1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of inspection. In particular the invention relates to a device and method for the provision of simultaneous inspection and manipulation of a sample.
2. Description of the Related Technology
All biological materials have mechanical properties that make them suitable for their purposes in their respective environments. Understanding these mechanical properties and how to alter them is a major goal of biomedical and materials engineering. Before applications of new technology can be achieved, a fundamental understanding of the materials is necessary.
Fundamental to almost all biological systems is the protein collagen. So fundamental is it in humans that it is the most abundant protein, with twenty nine genetically distinct types.
Basic to the collagen molecule is a triple helix structure made of three monomeric units. These three monomeric units, made of two alpha sub 1-chains and one alpha sub 2 chain, form a triple helical structure. This triple helix structure is called a tropocollagen. The biological systems incorporating collagen make appropriate use of its simultaneous strength, elasticity and flexibility. This also implies that the structural hierarchy of collagen is complementary to its mechanical properties.
Applications which could be based on an understanding these mechanical properties include the engineering of improved sponge-like scaffolds for tissue implants as for nerves, bones, and skin. It may also be possible to assess creep behavior for long-term delivery of collagen into the body for tissue engineering applications. Specifically, for cornea replacement surgeries, blood clotting prevention, and drug delivery discs, films and sheets.
The main constituent of the central and peripheral nervous systems are neurons. Neurons differ in their size, location and overall structure. Depending on where they are in the body and the type of information they process, they will take on different properties. Understanding how these neurons behave under mechanical stresses can provide insight into the mechanisms behind neuronal repair that would provide much needed information for those investigating paralysis, or neuronal death. Understanding how different neurons respond to mechanical stresses will provide insight to understanding their relative positions in the body and the extent of their abilities. Relating mechanical stresses to electrical activity of these neurons will provide much information for mimicking, replicating, regenerating, manipulating or replacing these electrical units of the body.
Flagella are a class of projections concerning eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Understanding the mechanical properties of bacterial flagella would allow for relating structure to motor properties. These include both intracellular and extracellular motor properties. By understanding how these cellular motors work, it would be a possible to create a first step toward mimicking cellular motors with the optimization that evolution has granted to biological systems. This could allow for drug delivery systems that could actually be propelled through the body with biological materials rather than foreign agents that the body might reject. Also, mechanical characterization could allow for better understanding of bacterial mobility and nutrient uptake since flagella accomplish both of these undertakings.
Though not a direct aspect of biological systems, carbon nanotubes are potentially beneficial to biological systems because of their carbon makeup which is common to organic systems. Carbon nanotubes can be either single-wall or multi-walled tubes, all of which have very high strength, flexibility and resilience.
Understanding the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes is useful in a biological context because they may be incorporated into bone grafts and tissue scaffolds. Understanding the appropriate ratios, compositions and alignments of these tubes in these biological systems could optimize protocols in carbon nanotube-based composites for tissue engineering. In addition, the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes can be altered with applied stresses, which could have useful implications in neuronal networks.
Simultaneous nanomanipulation and atomic force microscopy would therefore be useful in many contexts to study the properties of various materials. However, it does not appear to be possible to effectively perform nanomanipulation and atomic force microscopy using the same tool. While nano-manipulators and atomic force microscopes are commercially available, there are no existing devices that permit simultaneous nano-manipulation and atomic force microscopy. Therefore in order to perform an experiment involving these tools it is sometimes necessary to transport samples to various different locations and utilize more than one device. This increases the risk of sample loss or contamination, and also increases the time that it takes to accomplish an experiment or complete a task.
Currently there are some atomic force microscopes that have the ability to do nanomanipulation and nano-scribing, however they are limited by having a single probe tip that must run in either a manipulation mode or an imaging mode. Being able to conduct manipulation simultaneously and independently from imaging allows the improvement of experimental throughput for nanomanipulation, mechanical characterization and bio-sensing.
Therefore, there exists a need for providing an effective means for combining both atomic force microscopy and nanomanipulation into an integrated device that permits simultaneous nanomanipulation and atomic force microscopy.